Why We Need to Recapture Unused Visas

In America, there are approximately 500,000 unused green Visas cards that have been issued to people hoping to live here permanently. That’s not counting the number of people who have applied to come here temporarily and never used the visa after they arrived.

In both cases, the unused visas represent an opportunity cost to America as well as lost tax revenue that can only be recovered by recapturing these visas, something we should do right away. Here’s why we need to recapture unused visas immediately.

The visa situation today

There are two reasons why we need to recapture unused visas. First, the visas could be used in high-demand fields and industries, where a lack of workers is driving up salaries and slowing down innovation.

Second, there is also an issue of lost revenue; when these applications expire unused they don’t generate any income for our country.

The United States has several different types of visas. The H-1B visa is one such example, which allows employers to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. It also means that foreign workers can come work for these employers once they are in America.

Every year, employers apply for thousands of new H-1B visas and thousands more applications go unfulfilled. This means there are unused visas every year and millions of dollars being left on the table.

How to recapture unused visas

This means tracking visas at airports and other points of entry, implementing a biometric entry-exit program that would identify foreign visitors through their fingerprints or iris scans, and reporting when they leave the country. With this in place,

the government could then deny someone an American visa if he or she overstayed their or original period of stay.

This idea of making it harder for people who may not have planned on going home is just one part of fixing our broken immigration system. I propose ideas like a higher wall between America and Mexico so people can’t enter illegally on foot,

tougher restrictions on asylum seekers increased penalties for smuggling drugs across the border and more stringent asylum procedures for those caught up in chaotic situations abroad.

The urgency

1. What does the US Government stand to gain from unused visas?

The U.S. government stands to gain billions of dollars each year from unused visas, which is just the cost of maintaining unused visa quotas; including the processing, issuing, and distribution costs. With 3.2 billion U.S.

dollars going into this practice in 2013 alone, it is one of the United States’ most underutilized practices when it comes to generating revenue (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies). 2. Why can’t they just lower visa quotas? The visa quota system was set up by Congress before knowing how high America’s unemployment rates would get.

When Congress passed legislation in 1965, it set up visa quotas for a country of 20 million immigrants at a time when 200 million people were living in America. They did not intend for visa holders to return home after working here;

they simply wanted to make sure that an adequate number of immigrants could enter each year. The cap has been raised twice since then but remains vastly outdated. In 2015, Congress will have another chance to raise or eliminate it (Voices of NY).

Question & Answers

-I’m a U.S. citizen and want to use my B-1 visa, but it expired and I don’t know what to do. A B-1 visa is valid for six months or up to 10 years depending on the duration of the employment contract you have signed with your employer.

You can ask your employer how long they would like you on their payroll so that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency can recalculate when your visa expires from a time standpoint rather than counting from when it expired at the border

-Can I work without a work permit?

If you are on a B-1 visa, no. You must obtain an employment authorization document before starting work to meet your employer’s labor needs while working in the United States.

However, if you were given a postdated employment contract and you may extend your visa after arrival,

you can always bring along some supporting evidence such as stamps from arrival and departure dates and letters from your employer promising continued employment while they amend or extend your stay.

If they are unable to do so, then yes – but only for ninety days at which point a new permit would need to be issued by USCIS unless qualified for another extension. Again all extensions must be requested from outside of America.

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